Video Motion Detection

The Video Motion Detection sensor reacts to movements in certain image areas called video motion windows (VM windows in short). You can define one or more independent video motion windows for each image sensor (camera image).

Next, you can create different image analysis events, which only react to subsets of these windows. This provides a means for filtering according to direction of motion, for
example (see the Event Logic help page).

Visualization of Video Motion Detection Windows

If Video Motion Detection Style has been set to On and highlight on event, for example, the camera will display every VM window as a dotted frame.

Frame: If the camera detects movements in an active VM window that exceed the percentage set in the minimum area parameter (and that is below maximum area, see Video Motion Window Definitions below), the complete frame of the window turns red.

Video Motion Window ID: If Show Video Motion Window ID has been enabled (this is the default), every window shows an identification number in its top left corner. This number can
be set in the Video Motion Window definitions (see below). IDs for windows with no explicit or erroneous definitions are automatically assigned in the order of their definitions.

Status bar: Shows the current activity (detected movement in the image) of every window and has one or two small markers showing the
current trigger limits (see Video Motion Window Definitions below). If the VM window is not active (too dark or initializing), camera will hide the status bar for this time.

Number of pixels measured from the left edge of the visible image to the left border of the VM window (based on a MEGA image
1280x960).

Vertical position

Number of pixels measured from the bottom edge of the visible image to the bottom border of the VM window (based on a MEGA
image 1280x960).

Width

Width of the window in pixels (based on a MEGA image 1280x960).

Height

Height of the window in pixels (based on a MEGA image 1280x960).

Horizontal Coordinate

Number of pixels measured horizontally from the left edge of the visible image to the polygon corner (based on a MEGA image
1280x960).

Vertical Coordinate

Number of pixels measured vertically from the bottom edge of the visible image to the polygon corner (based on a MEGA image
1280x960).

Minimum area

Values: 0-99 (lower: more sensitive)

This parameter controls the percentage of the VM window area that needs to change from one frame to the next in order to trigger
an event. Decreasing this value will make the VM window more sensitive. This value can be left out; in this case, the camera
will use the default value of 25.

Maximum area

Values: 0-99

The maximum percentage of the window area that is allowed to change from one frame to the next in order to trigger an event. You can use this value to suppress false alarms resulting
from global changes (e.g. when the lights are turned on). This is an optional parameter, which will not be used, if it has
not been specified explicitly.

Sensitivity

Values: 0-99 (higher: less sensitive)

This parameter controls the percentage of detected change in the pixels in a VM window, which must be reached to trigger an
event. Besides the detection area, this is the second parameter to tune the detection performance. The sensitivity value can
normally be left out (thus using the default setting), but may be helpful in difficult situations. By default, this value
is 20 for regular VM windows and 10 for reference windows.

Color

Values: black, red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, dred, dgreen, dblue

This parameter sets the background color of window frame and status line. A missing or erroneous specification will result
in black being chosen.

ID-number

Values: 1-999

This parameter sets the ID-number of the window. If an invalid number is specified, or it has been previously assigned, the
window reverts to automatic enumeration.

Using Reference Windows to Avoid False Alarms

Reference windows are used to avoid false alarms for events that would be triggered by VM windows, e.g. if lighting conditions
change rapidly (sun and cloudy sky, headlights from cars, etc.).

To define a reference window, simply create an additional VM window in a portion of the image where no movements are expected. Then add an exclamation mark (!) in front of the VM window definition.

Example 3. Defining a Reference Window

!0,912,750,364,188,a=25

Note that specifying a maximum area for reference windows is possible, but not very useful.

If a reference window triggers, all events using it will be disabled for the time specified for the Video Motion Suppression Time parameter. If this value is 0, the camera only suppresses triggers at the same moment as the reference window.

Using Comments to Deactivate Window Definitions

In order to temporarily deactivate VM windows, place a hash sign (#) in front of the definition. This VM window definition will still be saved, but will not be used as a video motion window.
In addition, comments generally help keep an overview if the VM window definitions are complex.

Auto-Generated VM Windows

This special mode allows generating several video motion windows with only one line, allowing you to create a "minefield"
of VM windows with only one definition line. It can also be used to quickly find an optimum set of parameters for a given
lighting situation. This is an example for a auto-generated VM window definition line with all optional parameters:

If two different values are specified, the minimum area parameter for the generated windows varies between the first value for the leftmost column of windows and the second value
for the rightmost column. The values for the windows in-between are interpolated linearly. If the same value is specified
for both parameters, all windows use this value.

Default: 25

Maximum area

Varies the maximum area parameter in the same fashion as for minimum area, but in vertical direction from bottom to top. If no values are specified, the maximum area is disabled.

Default: Off

Generated windows have their own ID numbering system, indicated by a leading "g".

Make sure that you only use the maximum area parameter if absolutely necessary. It can help when trying to determine a good value for this kind of "minefield" set of
VM window definitions.

Variables

Certain situations may require further fine-tuning of the behavior of the video motion windows using the following variables.
Note that you do not need to change the default settings unless you need to handle very special situations.

Syntax:

Parameter=value

Example 5. Using the $noiseadjust Variable

$noiseadjust=1

Variable

Meaning

Value Range

Explanation

$noiseadjust

Controls the sensitivity to image noise.

0..1

1 (default): Activates image noise filtering. Differences in the brightness if those image pixels that are below the calculated
noise value, will not trigger a video motion window.

0: Deactivates image noise filtering. Motion detection is more sensitivity in dark scenes, but the number of false alarms due
to image noise may increase.

$postfilter

Controls how changes in illumination are treated.

0..1

1 (default): Activates "post-filtering" of the VM window(s). Uniform changes in illumination are filtered and will not result
in a triggering action.

0: Deactivates post-filtering and thus increases VM sensitivity. Note that switching post-filtering off is only recommended
when illumination does not change. In this case, you can use this setting to increase the sensitivity of the VM windows.

$limit

Defines a percentage for pixel brightness from which video motion detection will be more sensitive.

0..100

100 (default): No effect.

0..99: Use this parameter to increase the sensitivity of VM windows especially for bright image areas; a setting of $limit=60, for example, would limit VM detection to all pixels that have at least 60% brightness.

Copy Window Definitions

If this option is activated, all video motion definitions will be used on both image sensors. This option is only available
on Day/Night models.

Dual Lens Video Motion

Activating this option will detect video motion on both image sensors (regardless of which sensor is actually shown on the
Live screen). Note that using this option may reduce the maximum frame rate. A video motion window explicitly defined for
the left image sensor will remain active, even if you only see the image of the camera's right image sensor. This means that the camera will react on events detected on the left (invisible) image sensor. This option
is only available on Dual models.

Low-Light Suppression

Disables motion detection if illumination drops below the selected value. This value can be set independently for each camera
lens.

Video Motion Window Suppression Time

If a positive value is entered, a triggering reference window suppresses motion detection for this duration.

Hide Unused Windows

With this option, windows that are not used in an active event are not processed and not visualized in the image. Using this
function, a subset of windows can be selected from an automatically generated field. The unused windows do not use any processing
time or clutter the image.

Storing the Configuration

Click on the Set button to activate your settings and to save them until the next reboot of the camera.

Click on the Factory button to load the factory defaults for this dialog (this button may not be present in all dialogs).

Click on the Restore button to undo your most recent changes that have not been stored in the camera permanently.

Click on the Close button to close the dialog. While closing the dialog, the system checks the entire configuration for changes. If changes are detected, you will be asked if you would like to store the entire configuration permanently.